Annealing-furnace.



J. L., BUTLER.

ANNBALING FURNAGE.

APPLIOATION FILED we. 25, 1909 Patented Dec. 27, 19 10.,

2 SHEETS-BHBBT 1.

J. L. BUTLER.

ANNEALING FURNACE. APPLICATION 3mm) AUG. 25, 1909.

4 Patented Dec. 27, 1910. Y

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

JAMES L. BUTLER, 0F ALLIANCE, OHIO.

I mealtime-summon.

Be it known that I, JAMES L. BUTLER, a

citizen ofthe United- States, residing at Alliance, in the county of Stark-and State of Ohio, have invented certain'new and use; ful Improvements in Annealing-Furnaces, of which the following is a specification.

In annealing furnaces in which the, articles to be annealed are introduced and withdrawn from the oven on cars or trucks, trouble has heretofore been experienced owing to-the warping, twisting, distorting,

' and expanding and contracting of the car or truck, due to the fgreat heat, especially in the annealing of at plates. With such articles it is particularly important that the car shall remain perfectly fiat, even though subjected to considerable variations in temperature, and to effect this result I provide the car with balls on which to roll, and so construct the device that the expansion and contraction does not" interfere with the proper action of the anti-friction balls, and does not result in detrimental distortion of the car or the plates which it supports and carries.

In order that a full understanding of this invention may be had, I have illustrated a desirable embodiment of the same in the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification, and to-which reference should be, made, like reference characters referring to the same parts throughout the various views of these drawings.

Figure l is a cross section of an annealing oven equipped with my improved form of car or carrier; Fig. 2 1s a plan view of the car on a reducedscale, the firebrick covering of the same being omitted; Fig. 3 is an end view of one of the two companion parts or sections of which the caror carrier is composed; Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section through the annealing oven or furnace; Fig. 5 is a plan view of one of the track sections for the anti-friction balls; and Fig. (3

-15 an end view of such section, one of the balls being indicated in dotted lines.

lfieference being had to these drawings, it

wil be noticed that therein I have illustratedan annealing oven or furnace l-O having an arched top 11, a flat floor or bottom wall 12, and side walls' 13 and 14. .lnas- I much as this oven may be of any suitable or ordinary construction for the application of l nuch' less dimensions.

arenas. s ifi i meters t t. Patented nee. at, 1am. Application filed August 25, 1909. Serial No. 514,473. To all whom it may concern: I heat to its interior, further description of the oi 'enproper'is deemed unnecessary.

On the floor or bottom wall 12, which may be made of any desired heat-resisting mate- .rial, I mount three grooved parallel tracks 15, 16 and 17, the parallel top grooves of which are substantially semi-cylindrical. Each track is made of a plurality of alined, associated sections 18 (Figs. t and 5) having apertured lateral ears 19 for the attachment of the same, by bolts or otherwise, to a plurality ofcross plates 20 sunk in the to face of the floor or bottom wall 12. In order to assist in the proper assembly of such sections and their maintenance in the proper alinement, one end of each section 18 has a ll-shaped is supplied with a correspondingly shaped cavity 22 adapted to receive the projection projection 21, while its other end of the adjacent companion section. Each of SlOIlS or cavities 27 and 28 adapted to receive and accommodate the outwardly-extended ears or projections 29 and 30 of the companion car-section, such ears or proiections being riveted to the other part of the car, as clearly illustrated. By the employment ot a construction of this kind, I am enabled to build a car of considerable size by the use of a pattern andcastings of The two longitudinal edges of each car-section are supplied with upstanding, parallel, marginal flanges 31., and at each end the car is equipped with a transverse trough 32, the top edge of which in the same plane with the corresponding edges of the flanges 81. Depending from the bottom surface of this car and extended longitudinally thereof near its outer edges are two smaller flanges 33 and 34, the functions of which will be indicated hereinafter. Centrally and longitudinally 30 place practically in of balls 23 in the center track 16. The bot- .sitions indicated in Fig.

tom surface of this car is also supplied with two fiat, horizontal track surfaces 36 adapted to reston the tops of the balls 23 of the two outer companion trackways 15 and 17.

On the top face of the car I provide a layer 37 of insulating material, on which I superpose a body of firebrick 38 held on the car and maintained in proper position by the flanges described above. In order 'to limit the amount of heat'which may reach the balls and trackways, I mount bent lates 39 on the inner faces of the side wa 1s 13 and 14 so as to form longitudinal channels for the accommodation of the two bodies of sand-0r similar material 40, into which the flanges 33 and 34: on the bottom of the car reach so as to form a sort of sand seal between the top of the car and the parts and elements below the same. In order also that the ends of the oven may be suitably closed, the two transverse channels 32 at the ends of the car are likewise supplied with sand 4C1, into which the lower edges of the doors &2 are dropped so as to securely seal the oven, will be readily understood.

The operation of this' appliance takes the following manner: The doors -12 having been lifted and the car 2% having been rolled out of the oven, it is loaded with the articles to be annealed, such, for example, as flat plates. It is then rolled into the oven, which operation is readily and easily accomplished owing to the facility with which theballs 23 travel in their respective tracks, transverse movement of the car being prevented owing to the cooperation of the upper, central, grooved track 35 with its row of balls. As the car travels into the furnace or oven, the flanges 33 and 34: engage the two bodies of sand 40 in the side channels, forming the seals hereinabove mentioned. The end doors are then pulled down or dropped to the po- 4, their bottom edges entering the bodies of sand i1, also forming seals, so that the load of the car may be subjected the desired length of time to the heat in the oven. The space below the car, occupied by the tracks and balls, is open to the atmosphere at both ends, as is shown in Fig. i, so as to reduce the heat to which the parts occupied by this compartment are subjected. Owing to the fact that the trackways 3(3 011 the bottom of the car are flat and are free to travel laterally or transversely outwardly under the expansion action of the heat to which the car and its load are-subjected, such expansion may occur without causing any distortion or warping ot' the car-body, and resulting buckling of the plates carried balls, the other track with its consequent nace l members on the floor of the annealing chamby the car, and when the ear cools, owing to this permissible lateral travel or movement between the outer rows of balls and the flat tracks 36, the car may assume its original condition without distortion, twisting or the like. In other words, by this invention I have provided an effective means for caring for the expansion and contraction of the car, at the same time maintaining the, surface of the same in a practically undistorted or untwisted plane so that the fiat plates or other parts carried thereby will'in no way be detrimentally affected by distortion of the car.

Whereas I have herein indicated, both by' description and illustration,

style or one particular form of a car embodying tion, I wish to have ituhderstood, however, that the invention is susceptible of a variety of embodiments and that the structural features of the appliance of this application may be modified within comparatively wide limits without departure from the heart of the invention.

I claim:

1. The combination of an annealing furnace having a plurality of tracks on the floor of the annealing chamber of the furnace, of a car having track members corresponding to the tracks of the furnace, and

anti-friction balls interposed between corre sponding track members, the track members of the furnace being grooved to receive the balls, at least one of the track members of the car being grooved to fit the balls and prevent side movement of the car, the remaining track members of the car having bearing faces exceeding in width the width of the bearing upon the balls to permit expansion and contraction of the ear bottom without binding upon the balls.

2. The combination of an annealing furnace having a plurality of grooved track members on the floor of the annealing chamber, of a carhaving track members corresponding to the track members of the furnace, and anti-friction balls interposed between the track members the car, one of the track members of the car being located at the longitudinal center of its bottom and grooved to fit the adjacent members of the car having fiat bearing surfaces.

3. The combination of anannealing furnace, a car, and sets of anti-friction devices supporting healing chamber of the furnace, said devices being held against bodily movement transversely of the car, and the car having a track member grooved to fit one set of anti-friction devices to prevent lateral movement of the car.

having a plurality of grooved track my invenof the furnace and the car upon the floor of the anher, halls adapted t0 travel in the grooves of such tracks, wear supported by and adaptby the undersiue 0f the car am} bearing on "I the halls of the respective Hacks on the floor of the furnace, eneor more of the cm- 13racks being flat to permit expansion and contraction of the car without interfering l r l l l l I with its operation, the other car tracks be- J ing grooved to partially receive the balls 10 ed to roll on said balls, 2111C tracks earned and maintain Lhe ear in proper relation with such halls, substantially as described.

JAMES L. BUTLER. Wil'nesses ALBERT HATOHER, J. A. STAMBAUGH. 

